


I've Become More Clumsy Since I Met You

by spacetimerift



Category: The Lobby
Genre: Other, it's what they deserve, mechanic/tinkerer Gerard, smug and sassy Judas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26944948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacetimerift/pseuds/spacetimerift
Summary: Gerard's a mechanic who falls facefirst for a new customer (Judas), who picks up on it immediately and starts breaking their own shit just to see how long it takes the guy to realize he likes them and make a move.
Relationships: Gerard | Gee/Judas (The Lobby)
Kudos: 3





	1. Start a War, Start a Riot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First meetings!! Always a treat with these two..... (title from One For The Money by Escape The Fate)

Sunlight began to filter through the sloppily-pulled curtains protecting the workshop from external influences. As it slowly dipped and spread across the variously occupied surfaces in a slow, inexorable march, deep, heavy breathing never stopped filling the room. Eventually, the light reached a tan, freckled face lying on grease-covered arms. The man’s nose twitched as motes of dust drifted up from the table he’d fallen asleep against, still loosely holding onto a screwdriver and crescent wrench. Sneezing and blinking, Gerard woke up, immediately whipping his head up and banging it on one of his homemade shelves.  
“Ow, _fuck!_ ” he exclaimed, rubbing the new sore spot on his head and likely adding grease spots to already dark hair. After a moment’s thought, he also said “Shit” as loudly as possible, just for good measure. A glance at his watch rapidly did away with any further plans to get injured more or keep cursing. “SHIT,” he said again, with greater emphasis, as he desperately started organizing the space so he could get out front and open the shop without himself or the area looking like a mess. “I really need to fix that alarm clock,” he mused on his way to (hopefully) one of the fastest shower’s he’d ever taken. Meh, it was probably for the best that he’d woken up naturally, since the clock in question had a definitive fist-shaped dent in it. And besides, his customers seemed to find it incomprehensibly funny that he could fix any of their items in a flash but was unable to keep almost any machine he owned up and running.  
Ten minutes later, he mostly finished drying his hair and chucked the towel in the general direction of his overflowing laundry hamper. _Note to self,_ he thought, _go to the laundromat._ Grabbing a shirt completely at random, he yanked it on and hoped he hadn’t done it backwards, then threw on a flannel and… well, to say he put on his jeans might have been an exaggeration, since the process looked more like a baby camel learning to walk. Regardless, he made it to the shop door, flushed and breathless, just in time to open at the hour he’d carefully written on the door and front window. As soon as Gerard had gotten settled behind the counter to continue an ongoing project, a light chime alerted him to a new presence in the store. Bracing himself for whatever wacko had come in first thing on a Saturday morning, he turned around with a bright grin, and came face to face with perfection. “Hello!” he said warmly, precisely as he’d intended to, before continuing “I’m gay!” which was not a part of his plan, to say the least.  
As the person in front of him raised an eyebrow with amusement plastered across their (gorgeous) features, he swallowed, noticing their eyes following the motion. “So,” they drawled, grinning, “do you announce your orientation to everyone that walks in here or am I just special?”


	2. Just Another Boy Without a Crown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard is _**not**_ in love at first sight, okay? Not even at second.  
> ...Right? (title from Keep The Change, You Filthy Animal by All Time Low)

Gerard looked up from the concept sketches for his (hopefully) future robot cat companion when he heard the door chime. “Oh, hi!” He said brightly, making eye contact with the new arrival. “You said your name was Judas, right?” Quirking one side of their mouth up into a smirk, the aviator-bedecked individual nodded. “And I’m guessing you’re still gay?” They said, with just the right inflection to make the remark not actually a question, causing Gerard’s cheeks to flush. Clearing his throat with what was probably more force than strictly necessary, he turned in his chair to face the counter. “Anyway,” he said, relieved that his voice didn’t actually crack, “what brings you in today? Any trouble with that watch?”  
  
Had Gerard been able to see Judas’s eyes, he would have noticed a slight glint of embarrassment which led into their shrugging and pulling an alarm clock out of their pocket, one of the ones with an analog face and bells on the top, nothing like Gerard’s battered digital model. “Damn thing either won’t go off or does it at the wrong time.” They said with great exasperation. “The watch is actually keeping better time than it has in years, and the fact I can’t tell how you did it is driving me crazy.” Gerard laughed at that, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “Thank you very much for the confidence,” he replied, hoping that he wasn’t blushing for the second time since Judas had walked in. “I’ll go ahead and take a look right now so I can tell you if it’ll take more time than you’re comfortable waiting here.” As he wandered along to his workshop, fiddling with a lever, Gerard could’ve sworn Judas muttered “as if that’d happen.”  
~~~  
Whistling idly as he finished up the last few alterations he thought should fix the clock, which he’d noticed had lightning patterns drawn on in Sharpie. After a minute or so of steadfastly making his way through Bleak December, Gerard dimly noticed a second theme winding around his in near-perfect harmony. Puzzled but amused, he continued the song while carrying the clock back to the front area of his shop, only to promptly drop it on his foot when he saw Judas perched on a folding chair, face creased in deep concentration. The ensuing flurry of curses rapidly broke them out of their trance, but the moment Gerard had seen was beautiful, and he found himself wanting to see it again. Instead, Judas practically flew to him with a frown, about to say he should be more careful when they stopped to gape at the mechanic’s choice of footwear. “You wear white Converse to your workshop?” They asked incredulously. “In _this_ economy??”  
~~~  
At precisely 4:13 PM, Gerard flopped facefirst onto his bed, having cleaned up the storefront and closed for the day. Sighing heavily, he tried to fuse with the soft blanket he’d thrown half-heartedly across it that morning. “I’m not in love with Judas.” He stated carefully, before pulling himself up and making a convincing face in the mirror. “Why would I be in love with Judas?” Asked mirror-Gerard, “I mean, they only have fantastic taste in music and the hottest voice ever.” Pausing, Gerard realized that none of this was at all helping his mission to prove that he was _not_ , in fact, developing a crush on his stupidly hot now-repeat customer. “Well, fuck.” Said mirror-Gerard. “Maybe I **_do_** like Judas.”


	3. Still, I Have So Many Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love Inspector Judas is on the case (title from Fallen Angel by Three Days Grace because I think it's a huge firestorm song)

After a third trip into Gerard’s store, Judas was completely certain of their suspicion that he was crushing on them. It’s not as though he was particularly subtle about it, in fact the question that confused them most was how in the hell he ran a successful business based on his inability to keep anything _he_ owned even vaguely functional. I mean, hell, they’d seen the man break a chair by tripping over it with their own eyes, and yet anything he repaired for someone else stayed working for its expected lifespan. ”Competence is sexy,” Judas mused, tapping a couple fingers against their chin, “not only that, but combined with mild inability to function?” They snapped their fingers before zipping up their favourite jacket, a delirious combination of neon that they liked to say either blinds or seduces whoever sees it. Running a hand through their bangs, they grinned and winked at the mirror. “It’s showtime.”  
~~~  
Half an hour later, they sauntered through the eternally squeaking door into the shop, carrying a very deliberately broken toaster and trying not to smirk about it. At the sound of the bell on the door, Gerard emerged from the back room, wiping greasy hands on a towel that looked older than he was. Seeing Judas, he smiled widely without thinking and waved to them excitedly. “Hey! What’s up?” The pleased surprise on his face immediately changed to concern as he remembered that he ran a business for fixing things, not a hangout spot for gorgeous people. His questing eyes quickly settled on the toaster, a real monstrosity that Judas was surprised had lasted this long, before flashing back up to their eyes. As soon as he saw the appliance, the mechanic’s face relaxed into his usual soft, warm smile. “Lemme take that for you, it looks like we should have an easy repair!” Gerard reached over to take the machine as Judas handed it over, careful to let their fingers drag against the man’s and nearly making him drop it in the process.  
  
“Oh shit, um, sorry,” he yelped, cheeks flushing in a highlight against his dark freckles. Leaning in just enough to accentuate the inch they had over Gerard, Judas chuckled lowly before flashing him their signature smirk. “Anytime, babe,” they said, “I’m not gonna stop you anytime too soon.” The mechanic’s face flushed even more, if that were possible, and any answer he might have had was lost in a small squeak. “O-okay, I, uh, I guess,” he answered in a voice far more level than he’d expected, and half-tripped, half-ran back to his workshop.  
  
Judas rested a hand over their mouth to hold in laughter. This man was really too adorable for his own good sometimes. After a moment’s thought, they settled down on the same folding chair they’d occupied during the alarm clock fix with a notebook and sketchpad. When Gerard returned about 20 minutes later, he very carefully handed them the toaster and muttered something about cleaning it before putting it to any further use. As they sauntered out the door, Judas glanced at the device to see what he could possibly have been talking about, and saw a piece of crumpled, smudged paper sticking out of one of the slots. They extricated it with great care, and deciphered the scribble on it as “Call me?” with a carefully printed phone number.


End file.
